The purpose of this article is to identify the treatment of hermits as
literary characters in Renaissance Spanish plays of the 16th century and earlier,
that is, before the Golden Age of Spanish literature represented by Lope de
Vega. This survey is
useful because literature usually projects the popular perception of the
hermit in society -- and in this case, the Church, as well.

Contrary to the treatment of clergymen in the vast majority of plays from
the Renaissance era, the hermit escapes the abuse and mockery of the
dramatists. As Lovett puts it:

If there is one man who for the dramatist before Lope de Vega embodies
the highest virtues and is free from worldly temptations, it is the man who
decides to retire from the world and spends his days in solitude.

Lovett begins his survey with the semi-dramatic literature of the medieval Spain.
The figure of a hermit appears in Danza de la Muerte, composed in the
late 14th century, wherein Death dances with the hermit but grudgingly admits
his good service to God. In Revelacion de un hermitaño, a 1382 poem,
the author states that he is a hermit and has received a revelation which he now
transcribes as a poetic dialog between a soul and its corpse.

By the time of the Renaissance, the hermit populates
literature because few contemporary hermits exist. Lovett notes the
dichotomous treatment of the hermit character:

Although the hermit is generally treated as a dignified character in
Renaissance plays, he is occasionally presented in a different light. When
he appears as a serious type, his characteristics are mainly those of a
kind, old man, a philosopher, who knows that the world is full of vanity and
deceit and who has decided to withdraw from it completely. He is often
willing to lend a helping hand to those who are in need of help and he
frequently appears as a learned person who preaches on the advantages of
isolation. As a comic character, he is presented mainly as the victim of
worldly love.

Lovett identifies 19 plays of the Spanish Renaissance that contain
hermits. He categorizes them as those in which the hermit is a serious
character and those in which the hermit is a comic character. The article
then examines some representative plays.

HERMIT AS A SERIOUS CHARACTER

Representacion a la muy bendita pasion y muerte de nuestro precioso
Redentor by Juan del Encina (1469-1529?). In this religious drama, two
hermits are placed within the Passion story, hearing the angel's explanation
of the Resurrection at the empty tomb. The hermits lend a
devout atmosphere by their presence.

Egloga a farsa del nascimiento de nuestro redemptor Jesucristo by Lucas Fernandez (d.
1542).
The hermit Macario is insulted by two shepherds but patiently teaches them
the meaning of the Incarnation. Another shepherd arrives to announce the
birth of Christ. But the skeptical shepherds persist, recalling their bad
experiences with churchmen, and play at being foolish. The patient hermit
continues explaining theological matters, evocatively expressing his piety,
until the play ends with all the characters singing a Christmas hymn.

A hermit appears in five plays of Gil Vicente (1470-1540). Three are
serious characters. In Auto dos Reis Magos, two obtuse shepherds ask a
hermit where they can find the newborn Christ child. The patient hermit
tells them that it will be revealed shortly. The shepherds ask more stupid
questions quietly answered. A knight arrives to inform the hermit that a
bright star with a cross has appeared in the sky and that three kings are on
their way. The hermit expresses his piety in the diction of a prophet.

In Vicente's Comedio sobre a divisa da cidade de Coimbra, the play tells of a farmer (lavrador) complaining of his
hard lot to a hermit. The hermit encourages him to tell his story. The man is of
noble origin but his wife had been killed by a dragon, a snowstorm had
killed his sheep, the wind had destroyed his orchards, and now his children
are hungry. The hermit advises him to have his older son and daughter go
through the mountains and his younger son and daughter to the sea; both will
find food. The farmer tells the hermit that good advice ordained by virtue
is better than bread. After the children leave, the hermit tells the man
that in reality he is King Ceridon of Andalusia, whose daughter Colimena was
kidnapped by the evil Monderigon. Thus do the fates of both men align.
Lovett describes this dramatic genre:

We shall see other instances where the background of a hermit is given.
In those cases the noteworthy feature is that the character has not become a
hermit because of an inability to enjoy life in the world, but rather
because he has been pushed into solitude by some kind of emotional shock or
a profound disappointment.

Vicente's Auto de Amadis de Gaula is
based on a medieval romance of chivalry. Learning that Oriana does not want
to see him again, the knight Amadis decides to lead a solitary life on the
desolate Peña Pobre. Here Amadis meets a hermit, to whom he reveals his
story and his intention to live in solitude. The hermit gives Amadis an
account of his life and struggles in trying to live as a hermit, but Amadis
insists on his desire. In a soliloquy, Amadis reveals his motive to make Oriana sorry for
her loss. In the end, a reconciliatory letter from Oriana is brought to him
and Amadis decides he is not cut out for the hermit life after all.

Farsa del Mundo y Moral (1518) by Fernan Lopez de
Yanguas, presents three allegorical figures -- Mundo or World, a shepherd named Apetito or
Appetite, and Fe or Faith -- and
a hermit, who represents the Church. The hermit carries the moral
weight of best representing the Church, versus a priest or monk. In the
play, the shepherd Apetito meets a hermit and tells him that Mundo has just
promised him honors and riches. The hermit tells the shepherd that he has
been deceived and that he should go to Fe. They meet Fe, who urges the
shepherd to tell Mundo that he does not believe his promises. The convinced
Apetito does so, returning to listen to Fe's story of the Assumption. The
play ends with a hymn.

Egloga de Cristino y Febea by Juan del Encina depicts a comic
hermit or would-be hermit. The shepherd Cristino announces to his friend
Justino his intention to retire into solitude and serve God as a hermit.
Justino cannot dissuade him. Cupid learns of this and dispatches the nymph
Febea to lure Cristino back to the world. Febea tells Cristino that there
are many ways to serve God and that there are more good shepherds than good
churchmen. Cristino puts off Febea, but when she leaves, he wonders not at
his resolve but at what others may say if he fails. Pride becomes Cristino's
undoing, and he wavers. Meanwhile, Cupid promises Cristino the love of Febea
if he will change his mind. Cristino gives in, saying that the hermit life
is only for centenarians. Justino applauds his return. As Lovett notes, the
whole issue of eremitism is here treated lightly, like a game. While the
Amadis theme is not much different, it remains somewhat more serious. Lovett
considers Encina's portrayal of the tentative Cristino as clearly that of a
comic character.

Comedia Seraphina by Torres Naharro. The hermit in this play is
not merely comic but hypocritical, more like the typical Renaissance
portrait of conventional churchmen. The bigamist Floristan is married to
Orphea, an Italian, and to Seraphina, a Spaniard. The suspicious Seraphina
follows Floristan to Rome and excoriates his behavior. The chastened Floristan decides to kill Orphea, and tells her so. The hypocritical hermit
Teodoro, presented as a priest, tells Floristan not that he must refrain
from murder but rather that he must first wait until Orphea confesses.
At that moment, Floristan's brother Policiano appears and reveals his love for Orphea and
his desire to marry her. Teodoro obligingly legalizes the divorce and
officiates the marriage, explaining that the marriage of Floristan and
Orphea had not been consummated.

The play features several versions or sequels, each depicting Teodoro the
hermit more disreputably. Torres Naharro depicts Teodoro as a hermit only to
mock him. Teodoro's intrigues with the women characters in the sequels are
not foolish but salacious.

Two Portuguese plays by Gil Vicente depicting comic hermits are
Tragicomedia Pastoril da Serra da Estrella and Farca de Ines Pereira.
In both plays, the hermit character pursues romantic interests that belie
his station, let alone his religion. In the Tragicomedia, a hermit
appears to help resolve a complicated love affair involving three shepherds
and three shepherdesses. In the Farca, the hermit begs alms of Ines,
professes his love to her, and invites her to his hermitage.

Paso de un Soldado y un Moro y un Hermitaño is an anonymous work
published by Juan Timoneda as Turiana (1565). In this play, a
soldier, tired of army life, declares his desire to be a useful civilian
using his various skills. He encounters a Moor with some hens. The soldier
would buy the hens but declares them too thin. The Moor is offended and
insults the soldier. The soldier insists that he would buy the hens, but now
tells the Moor that for his insult, the Moor must go to a priest to confess.
They go to a hermit. The soldier tells the Moor that the hermit will hear
his confession and then pay for the hens. Once the Moor has gone into the
hermit's hut, the soldier absconds with the hens, and a comic dialog between
the confused Moor and the similarly confused hermit follows.

CONCLUSION

Lovett concludes that while a few hermits depicted in plays of this era
are mere parodies or weakened by a "definite mishap in their lives," the
hermit is usually depicted very positively.

The majority of the hermits in the Spanish drama before Lope de Vega are
presented in a favorable light. They usually are the epitome of wisdom,
learning and kindness. They represent the ideal of absolute good in a world
which otherwise is full of deceit and misery. They act as fathers and
guides, whose humble hermitage serves as a refuge for the weary and the
forlorn and who can always be counted on to dispense consolation and advice.